Claustrophobic
by MyLittleBirdFlies
Summary: Short Story. Locked in. Like that night, long ago. He felt himself succumb to the memory. o "You're okay. You'll be okay." Leo's claustrophobic, and the rest of the ship doesn't know. Bad Summary. Rated T for terrible parents and terrible circumstances, and one little cuss word.
1. What Leo Went Through

**Leo banged on the door.** _Come on, come on!_ He banged louder. "Guys!" he yelled. "Let me out!"

 _No, no, no!_ He felt a lump rising in his throat. He had to get out. He had just been working on the Archimedes sphere, _so close_ to the final calculation that would give him the knowledge of the great Archimedes himself. Percy and Jason had walked in, creating a bit of small talk with him, until Percy opened the door to the closet. And, one thing led to another, and here he was. Locked in. Like that night, l _ong ago_.

He felt himself succumb to the memory, his pleading still continuing.

 _The car had stopped. The rain did little tap dances on the ground, little puddles forming in the dips in the ground. Heavy gray clouds hung over the streets head, the neighborhood completely quiet. A rather tall man stepped out of the car, a black suit perfectly polished. His stern features were annoyed as he let out a grunt at the weather. He went to the trunk, grabbing a small suitcase, and a small umbrella. Opening the umbrella, the man made his way to the back of the car, opening the door. A small, thin little boy sat in the seat, his brown eyes annoyed as he looked at the house in front of them._

 _"Again, Tim? You know what'll happen," the boy said, raising his eyebrows._

 _'Tim' kept an emotionless expression. "Leo. You will behave and follow all instructions given to you by your_ new _parents." He spoke like a robot as if he had to say this line millions of times._

 _"Yeah, whatever Tim." Leo stepped out of the car, shrugging. "Let's get this over with."_

 _The house was in the middle of a neighborhood that strangely resembled a Levittown, with white walls and brown shutters. The outside was neatly kept, flower boxes neatly sitting on the steps to the door. The brick stairs were freshly cleaned while the sidewalk leading down the street was stained with dirt. Tim closed the door with a large slam._

 _"I meant it, Leo." Tim walked forward, Leo walking alongside him, obviously bored. "This is it. The court is going to send you somewhere next time."_

 _Leo smirked. "Is it just me, or did you sound concerned just then? I must be-"_

 _"I have warned the family of your specific circumstances," Tim continued, ignoring the boy. "They have taken the necessary precautions. No matches, fire extinguishers, etcetera."_

 _Leo's eyes narrowed, although hidden by his curly hair. They reached the door, Tim knocking politely in three, orderly taps._

 _The door flew open, revealing a slender woman. Her blonde hair was neatly put in a bun, and her green eyes wild and uncontrollable. Her floral apron was covered in flour, along with a freshly ironed dress. She couldn't have been older than 35. Behind her, stood a man, possibly large enough to size up Tim, with brown hair and the same colored eyes. He wore a plaid shirt, tucked into khaki pants._

 _"Mr. Himmer," the woman said, in a voice way to kind to fit her eyes. "This is Leo, I presume?"_

 _Tim nodded. "Yes, Mrs. Delora." Tim looked at Leo, who had been quiet. "Leo, this is Mrs. Gloria and Mr. John Delora. You'll be staying with them."_

 _Gloria nodded. "Yes, I believe I have taken all the precautions." Her eyes narrowed. "There isn't even a spark anywhere."_

 _Tim looked pleased with that. He placed the suitcase next to Leo. "Have a good day, Mam'am. Sir." He left._

 _Gloria smiled and waved goodbye, then softly closed the door. Her smile melted. She glared at Leo. "Go! Get your things and go to your room!" Leo was startled for a moment, then furiously nodded, quickly running off. Leo knew how some foster parents worked. He did have Teresa once, after all._

 _Dinner came faster then Leo would have liked. The man, John, collected him and sat him at the table, Gloria sitting at the head. They ate in silence. "Leo."_

 _Leo looked up, to see Gloria staring at him calmly. "I've heard about your ways. I'm here to tell you that if any of your arsonist ways, or any of your murdering ways are to come in my home, I will see to it that you will_ never _find a foster home again." She said this is such a manner, Leo didn't realize the full threat until after a moment of silence. He was terrified. Sure, he had heard these threats before, but never, not once since he was eight, had he been directly called a_ murderer _. Yes, of course, he knew he was, but it was information that not many of his foster parents got._

 _For what happened next, Leo was sure sealed his fate in the Delora household. His hand, which was under the table, caught fire. The table cloth went up like gasoline. Leo fell back in his chair, a loud_ thump _echoing through the room. Gloria shrieked, her hands waving wildly in her fear. John raced to the kitchen, his movements completely revolving around his wife's actions. Leo stood up shakily, his breathing harsh. He felt eight-years-old again, back in that warehouse, where his life was destroyed._

 _John Delora ran back into the room, fire extinguisher in hand. He readied the nozzle and quickly put out the blaze, leaving a shaking Gloria, and a_ very _frightened Leo. John, stalking up to the boy, yanked him up to his eye level. His eyes were full of pure fury, his grip tight. John threw the boy down, Leo landing on his elbow. He hissed in pain as volts of electricity raced up his body, his arm screaming in pain._

 _Gloria was taken back to her room, whilst Leo struggled to get up on his now broken elbow. John came back in, his movements measured, calculated, like a predator. He grabbed Leo by his shoulder (thankfully on his other arm, but it still hurt like hell.), and dragged him to a small hatch in the storage closet. The hatchet was thrown open by John's free hand, shoving Leo inside._

* * *

 _It was dark, that was for sure. He had never been in a place this dark, even as he slept. Not a single window._

The first notion that they knew it was a bad idea was the whimpering.

 _Leo wondered if they would let him out- if they could hear him banging on the door, pleading for mercy._

Percy looked Jason in the eyes, noticing he had the same thoughts he was having. Hazel blinked. "What's that noise?"

 _He began to sink down to the floor, stopping his racket before, but his yells turned into sobs._

They heard it. Quiet little, broken cries. "Leo," Jason breathed. "Percy, that's Leo!" The six shot up from the table, none even questioning how Jason knew, or why Leo was crying. They ran down the stairs.

 _Leo's sanity was waning, he had been down there for how long? A few days? A week? Months? He didn't care. All he knew is he hadn't been given food by the Delora's in a few days. He was sure that he was close to his mother, now. She would call him '_ mijo _', and he would laugh in pure joy. He was sure that he would be there with her any moment. His throat was raw, and his movements had become sluggish._

"Leo!" Piper yelled, the group still rushing to catch up with Percy and Jason, who were showing speed that they had never seen before. Jason slammed the doors open to the engine room.

 _The hatchet slammed open, a man Leo had never seen before jumping down. It didn't matter, though. His eyes were already closing. "He's in here!" a voice yelled_

"He's in here!" Percy yelled, pointing to a closet in the back, where sobbing could be heard. The reaction was immediate. Frank quickly eyed the key on the ground, shoving it in the key hole. The door swung open.

 _His energy was waning, there was no need to save him. The man ran up to him and said,_

Piper ran up to him and hugged him. "You're okay. You'll be okay."

* * *

 **I'm alive, no worries. So the background on writing this: I finished it, but instead of copying the story, I pasted, so I lost EVERYTHING. After a few days of sulking, I came back and wrote it again, and yeah. Notes:**

 **So this idea came to me whenever I was thinking of a few story ideas. I think, that at one point in time, Leo was locked in a basement/ closet by abusive foster parents. And, yeah. Also, I don't know if there is a storage closet in the engine room of the Argo ll, but there is in this story.**

 **The first part of this story was inspired by the fact that I think Percy and Jason would have an older brother relationship to not only Nico, but to Leo also, so they would pull pranks or tricks on them sometimes. Also, I wasn't sure how I did with tieing in the past and present when the group found him, so any comments on that would be appreciated.**

 **Did anyone catch that BoO reference? I'd like to know if ya did.**

 **Questions? Comments? Concerns? If not, bye!**


	2. What Leo Told the Others

**Piper and Jason led** **Leo** back to his cabin, where they currently sat on his bed. Piper was rubbing his back, whereas Jason sat on the other side of the tinkerer looking at him with a guilty look on his face. Percy stood awkwardly to the side, looking almost as bad as Jason, while rubbing his neck.

Leo's cries had reduced to a frequent shudder. The other of the seven had also gathered in the room, Hazel and Frank holding hands, Annabeth sending a death glare that could challenge Nico di Angelo towards Percy. She let out a slow breath.

"What _happened?_ " Her voice was cut and short, as if she was keeping her anger at bay for the son of Hephaestus. Percy and Jason shifted.

Jason cleared his throat. "We didn't mean to."

"Really," Percy said. "It was a prank, and, well..."

"Well, obviously it wasn't a prank to Leo!" Hazel was beginning to let her anger show. Jason looked down, shaking his head. He looked at Leo, who was beginning to calm down. Piper was too worried to even be angry, much less hear the conversation around her.

"Leo," Jason whispered. "What- what happened?" His voice cracked. The others were not one to see Jason emotional, but they knew that if one of his friends was hurting- _especially_ if he caused it- he didn't care if everyone saw him like this. After a few mintues, no one really expected an answer and they were about to leave to let Piper calm him down even more.

" _I'm_ _claustrophobic_." It was mumbled, barely reaching a whisper, but it was all everyone needed. Percy was looking around, seeing if he could escape from everyone's angry glares, but he found no escape.

"Oh, Leo," Piper said, not even caring what was going on around her. She never wanted to see her friends hurt, but when it was _Leo_ \- happy, funny, little brother _Leo_ , her heart shattered.

Jason was currently spluttering, trying to find the correct thing to say, but it was more like: "Leo- sorry- known- never-" He sighed. "Leo, it sounds lame, but _I'm sorry_."

Leo looked up, giving a small, sad smile. "It's alright, guys. Honestly, you couldn't have known. It was-" He stopped there, as if his brain decided it was a good idea to stop giving information. But it was all the others needed.

"Leo," Hazel asked cautiously. "What happened?" Her eyes widened. "Was it Aunt Rosa?"

Leo gave a humorless laugh- which didn't sound like something that should come out of him- and shook his head. "No. It was _another family_."

Annabeth knew that the fire user had many foster homes, and ran away from pretty much all of them, but she didn't know how they could do this to the boy. Sure, being claustrophobic was something that many people had, but she had seen Leo's reaction. It had taken them an hour of being in his room just to make the glaze over his eyes fade. Even then, Annabeth could still see his unfocused eyes, as if he was in two places at once.

Frank decided to speak. "W-what did they do?" His gaze was concerned, but curious overall.

Leo looked down again. "I-I was down there for six-" his voice broke here. "-months."

Annabeth put the pieces together. "A basement. They locked you down there."

Leo nodded. "I was found by some of the police who arrested them. They had other foster kids before that, they were all abused too. They searched the house when they couldn't find me."

Piper hugged him, allowing the boy to cry again.

Jason and Percy looked at each other. "Never again," they chorused. They looked at Leo.

" _Never_."

* * *

 **And that was the end to this two-shot! I hope you enjoyed, and sorry for the abrupt ending/ short chapter. I might do another one of these, because two-shots are easy and fun to write, so... eh.**

 **Questions? Comments? Concerns?**


	3. Very Important AN

**Promise you won't hate me? Okay, anyways, after long consideration, I have come to a decision. No, I'm not abandoning all my stories.**

 **I'm actually moving them slowly to Wattpad. In my personal experience, writing on the go is so much easier on Wattpad, since I can't find time to sit down at home and do it. I'm starting by moving my one-shots over, so my stories won't be moved over just yet.**

 **Still reading? Okay, also, I will still be on this website. I just won't be posting on it. So, if you need to contact me, feel free to shoot me a PM.**

 **This isn't because I suddenly hate this site, I actually want to give you more chapters and stories, and I can't do that here.**

 **If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to comment or PM me.**

 **Wattpad Account:**

 **ThatAwkwardGirl**

 **gopower321**

 **I hope this doesn't impact you too much, since this change is for** ** _you._**

 **Love ya! Hope to see you on Wattpad.**


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